They don't make 'em like they used to.

http://www.exploringoverland.com/overland-tech-travel/2014/6/27/they-dont-make-em-like-they-used-to

 

It's a pretty good article. When I say the famous line though I am referring to computer crap and not a steel frame with 11 airbags inside.

 

Yes, back then the driver's compartment was the crumple zone:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_r5UJrxcck

 

I was with him until he remarked that it couldn't really qualify as a bumper.

Of course not. It's a bumper cover.

 

Funny he mentions his FJ40. My first truck was a rusty 77 and I lost a brake line in it coming up pretty fast to a red light. I shut it off and downshifted as fast as I could but still hit a friend of mine in his brand new geo tracker doing about 30. Sent him though the entire intersection (luckily nobody was coming) and there were bits of plastic and foam all over the place. Not a scratch on the FJ40. I tapped the back of a Focus that outbraked me in fast moving traffic about 8 years ago in my first 05. Maybe a 5mph difference in speed. I needed a new bumper. It didn't fall off, but it was cracked in a few spots. One of these days I would like to get an ARB for my current truck.

 

I don't think I buy the fact that today's cars are safer. Yes there have been great strides in safety with airbags and seatbelts but I do think alot of what they are selling is hype. No one would want to buy a new car if older ones were safer. I remember in the 80's when they did crash tests and the safest car on the road was a 69 Cadillac. Kind of a black eye to new car manufacturers. I do have one question about the video with the 59 Belair and the 09 Malibu. Being that the 59 weights twice as much as the 09, why didn't the 59 push the 09 backwards in the crash. Simple physics says it should.

 

Twice as much? The '59 Bel Air weighs 3615 lb. The '09 Malibu weighs 3436 lb.

 

Maybe it has something to do with the "made up" safer impact absorbing crumple zone on the newer car that you speak of.

 

Sorry guys I am wrong. I should have checked the facts first. I would have bet the farm that the Bel Air weighed at least as much as a Tacoma and that the Malibu was closer to 3000 lbs. Not quite double though.

 

Old cars, no seat belts no collapsible steer column no crumple zones no air bags no hint of anything for surviving an accident they did however have an ash tray.

 

My old car has seat belts. And I have 2 ash trays, one in the dash and a spare in storage. Lol

 

Racecars don't have crumple zones, and drivers survive some pretty gnarly crashes on a regular basis. Ask yourself this, if airbags, crumple zones, and this safety equipment we are required by law to have worked so well, why doesn't every race organization on the planet require them?



Not what they used to be indeed.

 

I can do that to my front bumper lol

 

Good point.

 

Maybe because race cars have roll cages along with special seats, belts, harnesses, etc.....

Also, a quick google search shows they do have crumple zones.
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/auto-racing/nascar/nascar-basics/nascar-car-of-tomorrow4.htm

 

And helmets, neck braces, fire retardant suits, emergency personnel on standby plus many more race specific safety precautions. Apples to oranges.

Helmets in cars alone would save lives in accidents, but could possibly cause more accidents due to hearing and vision being limited

 

Why don't factory Tacoma's have those items? Although I won't wad up my truck intentionally, the reality is that at some point I will. I built it accordingly. Why don't the OEM's? I used to be a tow truck driver and saw a lot of horrible crashes and I always wondered why they built cars the way they do. It's like the pencil pushers writing the laws want 33,000 deaths a year or something.

 

Roll cages aren't needed most of the time. Also, they take up a lot of space. NASCARs don't have a big dash with all kinds of clusters, radio display, speakers, NAV units, glove boxes, etc... Also the back of the car would loose seating space for the cage.

I'm sure someone could build a vehicle with an intrique roll cage, but you'd loose a lot of the features people look for in vehicles. Plus you'd have a bar running around the inside that people wouldn't like hitting their head on.

You can always build an eco-cage, but those are usually ugly, and most wouldn't buy the vehicle just b/c it's the safest.

Looks first, then price, then practicality, then performance, then safety is probably the order of deciding on a car for most. With maybe the first two being swapped.

 

An air bag in a race car would do nothing more than add to the confusion they already have far more safety devices to make a crash survivable than the average car. Ever notice what happens to an open wheel Indy Car or F1 when the crash? They come apart that is the crumple zone all the energy is used up breaking parts not drivers.

 

My mother's Avalon got clipped on the highway in a rain storm, sent her spinning into the fast lane where she was T-boned by an 18 wheeler. She had a broken pelvis and some cuts but is fine today.

I went and collected her things from what was left of the car after the wreck. Looking at it, the guy in the yard and I were amazed how she was able to survive. The drivers seat was centered on the dash. The engineers that designed that frame did an outstanding job.